Photo Safari

Photo safari emerged from Farmer-led Documentation (e.g. Rüter & Piepenstock, 2006, Prolinnova) as a reaction to often observed extractive documentation where outsiders are controlling the process, and the information that has been documented being stored beyond the reach of the community . FLD, on the other hand, allows people tell their own stories in their own language. The resulting products can be used by community members for internal learning within the community, for exchange with other communities and for sharing with development workers, researchers and policy-makers. Photo safaris involves farmers in documenting the problems that they face. Groups of farmers are equipped with a Digital Camera and, depending on the objective, tasked to document problems they encounter or examples of innovative solutions. Following a transect through the community, for example, farmers then document the problems or solutions they consider to be priorities. If possible, photos are uploaded to computer and printed onsite, so that they can be presented back to farmers and other stakeholders. Interpreting the results required caution, however, as the photographic nature may encourage participants to focus on the most visually apparent issues within the site itself, at the expense of less tangible, seasonal or off-site issues.